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MCSS Infrastructure

MCMFriday, June 18, 2004
This post is from a version of my blog with inconsistent timestamps: evidently I was very good at defining 'modified' dates, but not 'created' dates. As such, I can't be sure when the content was actually written. Sorry!

One of the things that was an afterthought into Monitor City was the infrastructure for physical delivery of packages. It wasn't until the inner layers of the city were fully built that the logistics started to dawn on people.

Plans for apartment blocks were put on hold while bids for a massive warehouse block were processed. Eventually, because of a lack of interest by established courier companies, the MCCS was founded and the governance and construction of the area was left in their hands.

Two new streets were added to the plans for the city, connecting to major Canadian highways, to help ferry packages more efficiently.

The more-eastern road was reserved for incoming traffic, and was named Berners-Lee Avenue (after Sir Tim Berners-Lee), because, as the architects pointed out, "You travel it in to freedom, innovation, and a bright new world."

The western road was designed to make travel to major airports and the U.S. more efficient, and just outside the city borders it starts subdiving itself to channel traffic, with detailed instructions on speed limits and customs rules. Named RMS Lane after some debate (the 'open' road? is it 'free' to travel?)

MCCS controls both the courier systems in Monitor City and the city's storage facilities, which are rented out by many of the citizens. Once the facilities were built (including three new streets: Wright Street (Wright Bros.); Offset St (originally "Afterthought Street"); and Seguin Avenue (after the late Monitor City city councillor)... all are closed to non-commercial traffic), the question of satellite offices came up.

The MCCS board of directors was unsure how to deal with acquiring adequate real estate in the ten already densely populated blocks, especially since trial balloons were showing that the MC populace didn't like the idea of leaving their respective apartments for courier offices.

It was eventually decided that the only solution was to concentrate on speed of delivery, so with the city's permission, two narrow lanes were painted on to all streets to allow the fleet of motorcycles to zip around town without worrying about other traffic.

The end result is quite impressive: a call to MCCS will have a courier at your door in under 10 minutes, and all cross-town deliveries are guaranteed in under 20 minutes. With hourly "international" runs and sorting delays under half an hour, the real bottleneck for citizens is, as with most things, the outside world.

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